1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for constructing a business application system. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for constructing a business application system using a framework described by an object-oriented language, and a computer-readable storage medium having stored a framework for a business application system.
2. Related Background Art
Typical business application systems execute batch processing, such as a registration management for data to a database, a report output based on registered data, and business calculation. Such systems are typically utilized for various affairs, such as personnel management and inventory management. Such affairs for business application systems include many affairs, such as in-home care affairs, wherein specifications must be periodically changed by the amendments of laws and/or systems. In this case, it is desired that the business application system can be flexibly and easily changed and extended in accordance with the specification change. In addition, when the business application system is provided as a package, it is required to customize the provided business application system in accordance with a user's request. Also in this case, it is desired that the business application system can be flexibly and easily changed and extended.
By the way, when such a business application system, particularly a medium or large scale business application system, is designed and packaged, the business application system is often conventionally divided every independent functions to be developed to take charge of part of the work. As a general purpose development tool for such a business application system, the San Francisco Frameworks proposed by IBM Corporation are known. The San Francisco Frameworks provide application logic for executing calculation processing, statistical processing and so forth which are peculiar to the business application, the packaging environment thereof and so forth, as reusable components. If such components are suitably combined, the business application system can be efficiently constructed.
As described above, the business application system is often conventionally divided every independent functions to be developed to take charge of part of the work. However, in such a conventional development method, even the basic structure of the business application system, which is commonly for use in the respective functions, is separately developed for each function. Therefore, the business application system includes the basic structure thereof and the part easily influenced by the specification change, so that it is difficult to change and extend the business application system in accordance with the specification change.
In addition, even if the above described San Francisco Frameworks are used as general purpose development tools, it is not enough to easily change and extend the overall business application system. That is, although the business application system is usually constructed by combining the respective functions of a screen system, a report system and a business logic system, the San Francisco Frameworks mainly provide only the components of the business logic system, so that it is difficult to change and extend the basic structures relating to the screen system and the report system other than the business logic system. In addition, for the same reasons, it is not possible to commonly use and reuse the basic structures of the overall business application system including the screen system, the report system and the business logic system.
Furthermore, when such San Francisco Frameworks are used to develop the business application system, the functional groups, such as the screen system and the report system, are developed every functional group. In this case, it is required to take into account of the adjustment for processing wherein a certain functional group has an influence on other functional groups.
Specifically, for example, when the business application system is developed by different developers every functional group, the developer for a report system may design the report system so as to execute exclusive processing which does not allow the registration of data from a screen system when a report is printed, and the developer for the screen system may design the screen system so that a user management information is displayed even if the report is printed. In this case, the overall business application system lacks consistency, so that it is required to modify one of the designs of the report system and the screen system so as to be adapted to the other design. For that reason, each of developers must develop the system while cooperating with the other developers.